Rider

Rider takes readers where they have seldom ventured before: into the minds and hearts of women of a culture still enigmatic to the West. Mai has retreated from her marriage and career to ride the Tokyo subway system. Her wry, anthropological notes about the ways in which women are ignored or abused within the high-tech microcosm of trains and indoor malls reflect the myriad social pressures experienced by Asian women in general. Mai's subway data mix with poignant flashes of memory concerning the lives of female friends and relatives. It eventually comes to light that Mai's compulsion to be…